Love, Requited (Eventually)
by eostby
Summary: When Harry is plagued by Romilda Vane's unwanted advances, there's only one person who can help him: Luna Lovegood. For the What If Competition (What if Harry had to snog Luna because Romilda was stalking him?). Updated August 20th, 2015.


**A/N: As always, I make no claims to the Potterverse, as created and owned by J.K. Rowling. I just enjoy writing in the world she's letting us borrow. A brief explanation of a few things will come at the end, but until then, on with the show!**

Ever since Ron ate the spiked Cauldron Cakes, Harry had been noticing that Romilda Vane seemed to keep popping up more and more wherever he went. Originally, Harry had thought little of it, expecting that it would eventually work itself out, as things often did in his world. When it persisted, Harry began to get worried.

This didn't look like just a schoolgirl crush, as had been the story with Ginny Weasley. Now that the illusion of the "Boy-Who-Lived" had finally been exorcised from the redhead's mind, she was a lot nicer to hang around with, Harry decided. It certainly didn't hurt that she was also falling head over heels for Neville, and Neville returned the feelings quite strongly. Harry was just glad that they had stayed out of Ron's sight, as he wasn't sure what his best friend would think once he caught on to the relationship.

But Romilda was, annoyingly, much more persistent and willing to break a few rules (and laws, if what Hermione had told him about love potions was true) to get what she wanted. It was driving Harry mad, and he had taken to wearing his Invisibility Cloak whenever he spotted her. So far, it had seemed to work, but Harry didn't expect it to last long. Nothing else had.

"Hello Harry Potter," said a quiet voice from nearby. Harry started, nearly losing his cloak in the process. His eyes darted wildly before settling on blonde hair, causing him to let out a large sigh of relief. "Hello Luna," returned Harry. "You haven't seen Romilda stalking about here, have you?"

"Oh, no, I told her you were probably heading to the kitchens to get a snack from the house elves," said Luna. "When that's the last place you would probably be heading right now, as clearly you and I need to have a meeting in the Room of Requirement."

'Clearly?' thought Harry. 'What does she mean….never mind, it's Luna.' "All right, Luna, let's go to our meeting," Harry finally said. "I hope you'll forgive me if I've forgotten why exactly it is we need to meet."

Luna giggled as she skipped towards the Room ahead of Harry. "That's quite a silly thing to ask forgiveness for, Harry Potter," said Luna, "as it would imply that you knew why we needed to meet in the first place."

Harry just blankly stared after her for a moment before regaining his wits and running after her.

As Luna paced in front of the wall, some small part of Harry's brain kept trying to work out just how he had gotten into this situation in the first place. 'She said we clearly needed to meet, but that I didn't know why we needed to meet.' As the door appeared, Luna looked at Harry's still puzzled face. "It's not a logic puzzle to be solved, Harry," she said lightly. "I simply know why this is happening, and you do not. That's all. Really." She took him by the hand and led him into the Room of Requirement, making sure the door shut tightly behind them. It wouldn't do for Romilda to get in and scare Harry off, after all.

As the door closed, the room lit a fireplace in front of a very comfortable looking couch. This was where Luna led Harry, eventually sitting him down and making sure his eyes were on her. She knew that she would not get another opportunity as good as this one, so she wanted to make it count.

"Since you don't know why you are here, Harry, I should probably begin. You see, at last count there were 138 broom closets in Hogwarts. While an amusing bit of trivia should one believe it important to know, there is a far more practical problem for you that relates to it. For you do not know exactly where all 138 of those broom closets are, and thus you cannot be sure that Romilda Vane is not hiding in one of them, just waiting to pounce on you. Normally, this would not be a troublesome thing, but you do not return any of the feelings Romilda claims to have towards you."

Harry was about to say something when Luna gently but firmly pressed a finger to his lips.

"Hush. You don't have to agree with me, Harry, as I can see it in your eyes. The complicated solution to your problem would be to go map out where all the broom closets are by yourself, so you know where exactly she might hide. While a noble thought, you forget that even with your father's map, that sort of inventory would take many nights of sneaking around, and you would have to stay a step ahead of not only Romilda, but every prefect and every staff member as well. While I believe you are certainly capable of such a feat, it would be much better to have someone help you with this survey, to double check your work. As this is not a mission you would normally entrust to one of your closest friends, since we both know that Ronald would despise the extra work, and Hermione would not approve of you sneaking about after curfew for something she believes to be unimportant, you will need to ask someone else for help."

Harry absorbed the logic in Luna's words, and began furiously casting around in his mind for people he could trust with this task. Luna smiled at him, and gently traced his famous scar, moving ever so slightly closer to him.

"The thing you have already overlooked, Harry, is that there is someone already very close to you who is both willing to help you discover all 138 of these closets, and who has already figured out the best way to make sure Romilda leaves you alone."

Her light grey eyes met his bright green ones, as Luna put her hand under Harry's chin, and lifted his lips to meet hers. Harry was startled for a moment, but quickly recovered, and returned Luna's soft kiss. The pair separated briefly, as Luna adjusted her positioning to slide gracefully against Harry's side, under his warm, welcoming arms.

"Do you understand now why you needed this meeting, Harry?"

"Yes, Luna, I believe I do. So does this mean…"

"It can mean whatever you want it to mean, Harry."

"So are we…"

"If you'd like."

Harry grinned broadly, the first time he'd done so in many days. "I would."

Luna, seeing his grin, snuggled closer. "Me too."

Close by the Room of Requirement, two identical copies of Romilda Vane stood in front of a blank wall. Suddenly, one of the Romildas became Ginny Weasley. She checked her watch, looked up at Romilda and nodded. As the two witches walked away from the Room, Romilda asked the most pressing question on her mind. "Why exactly did Luna need us to bother Harry like that?" she asked Ginny.

"She said that a distracted Harry would be a lot easier to convince, and I agree with her, he's much easier to get favors from when his brain's not fully engaged," giggled the redhead.

"And why did you need to be disguised as me to distract Harry?" queried Romilda.

"Oh, that's simple: if Harry thought he saw you everywhere, he'd be putting all of his focus into staying safe from you, and not at all considering that you couldn't possibly be in multiple places at once," replied Ginny.

"Not that I like the implication there, but alright," pouted Romilda. "One last question, though: why such a convoluted plan and not something simpler, like dragging him into a broom closet or something?"

"With Luna," explained Ginny, "I've found that sometimes, it's better if you don't ask questions, and just let her do what she wants."

Romilda caught Ginny's eyes, and the pair broke up laughing as they headed back to the common room.

**A/N 2: The number of broom closets is a slight call back to my story "The Charms of Club 12." Just remember: canon Luna got sorted into Ravenclaw for a reason. I tried to emphasize that here, and I hope you enjoyed it. Also, I made a few edits that further explain why Harry kept seeing Romilda everywhere, and giving my readers a little more credit about seeing where I was taking things, as some reviewers asked me to. Thanks for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing.**


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